This Day In Music History

Of all the requests made each year to the National Archives for reproductions of photographs and documents, one item has been requested more than any other. That item, more requested than the Bill of Rights or even the Constitution of the United States, is the photograph above of Elvis Presley and Richard M. Nixon shaking hands during The King's visit to the White House.  The infamous meeting took place 36 years ago today in 1970. 

The meeting was initiated by Presley, who wrote Nixon a six-page letter requesting a visit with the President and suggesting that he be made a "Federal Agent-at-Large" in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.  Yeah, we all know that prescription drugs are basically what killed Elvis.  Maybe he thought getting a DEA badge would make it all right.  Elvis also wanted to give a Colt pistol to President Nixon. Nixon's top aides at the White House thought it was a bit odd, too.  One of Nixon's aides suggested that Presley might be just the person for Mr. Nixon to speak with, if he was interested in meeting "some bright young people" outside the government. Next to this comment, H. R. Haldeman scrawled in pen "You must be kidding."

While most people would dress up in their finest clothes or at least standard business clothes to meet the President, the King went a bit more casual. He wore tight-fitting dark velvet pants, a white silky shirt with very high collars and open to below his chest, a dark purple velvet cape, a gold medallion, and heavy silver-plated amber-tinted designer sunglasses with "EP" built into the nose bridge.  You can't tell much from the pictures, but Elvis also wore a huge belt and buckle, that resembled a WWF wrestling championship belt.